City Council discusses budget for 2013

At the Montevideo City Council meeting on Sept. 4, the council took care of preliminary budgeting and other financial business for Montevideo.

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By Jeremy Jones, staff writer

Montevideo American-News

By Jeremy Jones, staff writer

Posted Sep. 6, 2012 at 8:00 AM

By Jeremy Jones, staff writer
Posted Sep. 6, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Montevideo, MN

At the Montevideo City Council meeting on Sept. 4, the council took care of preliminary budgeting and other financial business for Montevideo.

The council began by reviewing the preliminary 2013 budget. The budget — which planned for $11,915,705 in revenues and $11,817,223 in expenditures was approved by the council in order to meet the Sept. 15 state deadline. It is important to note that this is only a preliminary budget; a public comment meeting was scheduled for Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. and a meeting to adopt the final budget was scheduled on Dec. 17.

Hand-in-hand with the budget discussion was the discussion of the preliminary 2013 tax levy. From 2012, the proposed levy increased 2.8 percent, which reflects a 2.75 percent increase in the general fund, a 3 percent increase in the library levy and a 3 percent increase in the city levy for servicing debt related to city projects. The increase in the general fund and the debt service levy both reflect typical yearly increases.

The final numbers of the proposed tax levy showed a modest increase from $1,812,300 to $1,863,100.

During the discussion, council member Marv Garbe suggested accepting a preliminary tax levy of 3 percent.

"We can go back down, but we can't go up (in the final levy)," Garbe said.

The final levy may only be increased from the preliminary levy in special circumstances, but it can be lessened if the council sees fit to do so. The council agreed to Garbe's proposal to account for this.

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